Healthy Start Community Action Network (CAN)

About

The purpose of the Minneapolis Healthy Start (CAN)is to support the Healthy Start program and provide guidance to Healthy Start staff and contracted partners (HCMC Mother Baby Program, MVNA, NorthPoint Health and Wellness, and The Family Partnership).

CAN strategies aim to foster healthy family development, promote parent leadership, and focus on system and policy changes to improve birth outcomes for families in Minneapolis. The CAN will align our work with Mayor Betsy Hodges Cradle to K policy recommendations.

Approach

The Community Action Network will use an approach called “collective impact”.

This work requires a commitment of a group of people from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem.

Our CAN will focus on cross-sector solutions to reduce the rate of infant mortality and build community-level supports for pregnant and parenting families.

The National Healthy Start Association

The National Healthy Start Association (NHSA) is committed to improving birth outcomes and health disparities that exist within communities of color throughout the United States.

As the membership association for the federal Healthy Start programs, NHSA promotes the development of community-based maternal and child health programs, particularly those addressing the issues of infant mortality, low birth weight and racial disparities in perinatal outcomes.

With over 100 Healthy Start projects situated across the United States, the Association works to expand the capacity of community-based MCH programs and infant mortality preventive health services, thereby ensuring that all families have access to a continuum of affordable quality health care and related services.

This range of care extends beyond the welfare of newborns and includes mothers, fathers, and families, thus affecting the entire community.

National Healthy Start Association - Infant Mortality Awareness

Infant Mortality is a serious issue that affects our nation’s health. The National Healthy Start Association (NHSA) has developed a campaign, Celebrate Day 366…Every Baby Deserves a Chance, to celebrate babies living beyond the first year of life. With the infant mortality rate so high across the U.S, infants living beyond their first birthdays is a huge accomplishment for many families.

Throughout the month of September, we recognize National Infant Mortality Awareness Month, but NHSA promotes the effectiveness of ongoing programs and efforts implemented to reduce infant deaths, low-birth weight, pre-term births and disparities in perinatal outcomes all year round.

The Celebrate Day 366…Every Baby Deserves a Chance Infant Mortality Awareness Campaign supports and inspires people from around the nation to take action in support of the Healthy People 2020 goal to improve the health and well-being of women, infants, children and families. Join the National Healthy Start Association and be part of the generation that ensures that every baby has a chance…

Priority Focus Are

Action Team Updates

Fatherhood Action Team

Fatherhood and Employment Action team is planning a Back to School and Ready to Learn event in August. This event will be at a park where there will be different activities stations that fathers and their children can participate. This Action team hopes to have at least 100-150 attendees.

Mental Health Action Team

Mental Health Action team plans to have a follow-up meeting from the March Training on Trauma Informed Care by the Sanctuary Model. This meeting will include a follow-up conversation on the application of the Trauma Informed Care within their agencies that attended the training in March. The Action team is also having a conversation around a mobile daycare idea for clients who have mental health doctor’s appointment and have children who are one year and older.

House Action Team

Housing Action Team is planning two trainings. The first training is geared towards the case managers and the public health nurses. They will learn how to develop relationships with landlords as well as gaining resources from housing experts around Minneapolis on how to help clients who are in a housing crisis and are about to lose their apartment. The second training will be specific to the Healthy Start clients. Healthy Start participants will have an opportunity to learn from each other and other housing experts on housing navigation around Minneapolis. During the event, there will be giveaways, food, and daycare.

Safe Sleep Action Team

Community baby showers were well received in different communities around Minneapolis. The Healthy Start program would like to support more community baby showers therefore, Safe Sleep Action team is planning for two possible baby showers. These showers will happen at Little Earth and Division of Indian Work (DIW).

QUICK LINKS

Accessibility: For reasonable accommodations or alternative formats, contact 311. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 at 612-673-3000. TTY users can call 612-673-2157 or 612-673-2626.